[Occasionally I invite a Guest to publish at Scribal Thrum – and I’m proud to welcome Peter Morici, Professor of International Business at the University of Maryland and former Director of Economics at the US International Trade Commission. Thanks for Contributing, Peter.]

You got to admit President Obama obfuscates embarrassing facts and pays off his supporters as well as any politician since Huey Long.

Those bonuses were “earned” trading derivatives and other engineered products with the more than $2 trillion in cheap credit provided by the Federal Reserve, TARP and other Washington largess. Meanwhile, bankers denied worthy homeowners opportunities to refinance mortgages and solid small businesses credit.

How much is $140 billion?

The U.S. economy grew at a $89 billion annualized rate in the third quarter. That was the first growth since the second quarter of 2008 and came to $22 billion in actual growth in the third quarter.

The bankers, after causing the greatest economic calamity since the Great Depression, are rewarded with six times the growth accomplished so far in the much heralded “economic recovery.”